On Wednesday 30th October 2024, members of the Uplift community, along with solicitor Darragh Mackin of Phoenix law, delivered a statement to the Taoiseach Simon Harris demanding that within 14 days the Irish government:

1. Suspends all military trade with Israel

2. Suspends all dual-use trade with Israel

3. Suspends the use of Irish airspace for both
the direct and indirect transfer of weapons to Israel

The Irish government have 14 days to respond. If they fail to comply with the above 3 demands then Uplift will issue judicial proceedings and are prepared to bring a case to the High Court to compel the government to take action.

The sections below outline some of the laws Uplift believes the Irish government is at risk of breaching.

In January 2024 the ICJ ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza. Under Article I of the Genocide Convention, the Irish government is obligated to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. This is not a passive obligation. The Irish government must undertake due diligence to ensure it is not aiding or facilitating genocide.

For this reason, it’s vital that the Irish government immediately suspends all military-related trade with Israel, including all dual-use licences, along with the use of Irish airspace for the direct or indirect transfer of weapons to Israel.

In addition, the ICJ ruled in the Bosnia v Serbia case, that under Article III(e) of the Genocide Convention, States are complicit in genocide if they enable or facilitate the commission of genocide.
This applies to arms transfers, as well as as to other forms of support such as logistical, technical or financial support, intelligence, or provision of other equipment.

Furthermore, under Article 35 of the Chicago Convention, “No munitions of war or implements of war may be carried in or above the territory of a State in aircraft engaged in international navigation, except by permission of such State.“

There are very specific rules about exporting military technology and equipment to countries outside of the EU. In particular EU Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP has 8 specific criteria.

In the case of Israel, we believe there are at least 6 criteria which are at risk of being violated through military-related trade with Israel.

However, the Irish government has repeatedly claimed to be following these rules and so far in 2023 and 2024, not a single application for a dual-use export licence to Israel has been rejected.

Additionally CEU Commission Regulation No 965/2012 states: “The operator shall only transport weapons of war or munitions of war by air if an approval to do so has been granted by all States whose airspace is intended to be used for the flight.”

Under Section 13 of the Irish Air Navigation and Transport Act 1946 (as amended by Section 28 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1988), flying weapons through Irish airspace without an exemption from the Department of Transport is a criminal offence, punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment.

It is also an offence under the Control of Exports Act 2023.

Under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1973 and 1989, munitions and/or dangerous goods cannot be transported on civilian aircraft through Irish sovereign airspace without an exemption from the Minister for Transport.

Investigative news outlet The Ditch has reported over 60 flights in the past year carrying weapons through Irish airspace, many of which were en route to IDF bases in Israel.

Uplift is a people-powered community of over 350,000 ordinary people from all across the island of Ireland.

We don’t take money from the government or big corporations. This is to ensure that we are independent and free to tackle the issues our members care about. (If we relied on government funding we’d never be able to take the government to court).

Uplift is a fivers and tenners movement. If you’d like to chip in to help fund this campaign, demanding the Irish government stops all military-related trade with Israel and stops allowing Irish airspace to be used to transfer weapons to the IDF then you can donate securely here.

The Irish government will hope to hide from this campaign in the media and make it seem complicated and obscure. It’s not, it’s pretty simple. So please follow us on socials and share content about the case under the hashtag #GazaLegalCase and #GazaCaseIreland

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The full initial submission made to the Dept. of An Taoiseach on 30th October 2024 can be read here.

The summary report on Ireland’s military trade with Israel can be read here.

And the full report on Ireland’s military trade with Israel can be found here.